Andrew Harrison

Justin Snaith was hoping for an early strike with Roland Garros as the Champion Trainer starts his Champions Season raid but I’m A Fireball put paid to that as Mike and Mathew de Kock’s gelding put a disappointing run in the Gr2 Gauteng Guineas behind him to win the March Stakes over 1400 m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday.

Callan Murray intimated that the 1600m of the Guineas had been a touch too far from a wide gate but he had no hesitation in taking I’m A Fireball to the front from the start.

Under pressure all the way up the straight, I’m A Fireball kept finding. In contrast, favourite Roland Garros was a long way off the pace turning for home and at one stage looked to be struggling. However, the grey finally got it all together and was making strong progress late, but too late, with I’m A Fireball holding him off by a fast-diminishing half-length.

Mike Miller has few peers in starting off young horses and while most of his contemporaries sit back and wait to bring on their charges, Miller has them out early and reaps the rewards.

He landed the first two on the card  as Japura finally got her nose in front in the card opener after finishing runner-up to Durban Diamond at her previous start.

The stable then had a solid form-line going into the next where Durban Diamond was close to the top of the boards. All the money was for Global Trend and it was money on the mark as the daughter of Red Ray cantered home ahead of stable companions Royal Crest and Ode To The Sea giving the yard a well-deserved trifecta.

Miller stable rider Tristan Godden got the first two home for the yard but switched to the Peter Muscutt-trained  Psyche in the first leg of the Pick 6. Godden admitted in a post-race interview after Global Trend’s win, that Psyche had disappointed in all three starts when starting favourite. There were no mistakes yesterday. Taking up the running early in the straight Psyche put all behind her cantering home with veteran Skipper O’Malley a well-beaten second.

Rachel Venniker has hit a rich vein of form at recent meetings. She booted home a treble in the night meeting at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Friday and followed up yesterday on JP’s Palace for Darryl Moore whose yard has also found form with the United States back at his best on Friday night’s poly.

Riding s copybook race. Venniker has JP’S Palace poised on the rail as Terminator set the pace but once taking over the lead it was tough going as challenges came from all sides but the son of Potala Palace showed mountains of courage in fighting them all off and getting home just ahead of Mister Nibbles and Tyrconnell.

Terry Fripp is doing a masterful job for Milnerton-based Candice Bass as her Summerveld assistant as the numbers show. Fripp joking said that he was winning maidens but Lilac In Winter put that straight as she ran out a comfortable winner of the Class 5.

Sneeuwitjie has upset more than one exotic bet, both her victories coming at long odds, and for a few strides it looked as if she would scupper a few more. However, she was out of gas over the final furlong as Serino Moodley got the best out of Lilac In Winter who ran on strongly to keep Greenlight Queen at bay with Sneeuwitjie staying on for second and R6.30 a ‘drum’.

Vihaan’s Web is relatively lightly raced as a four-year-old but made it four from a dozen starts as he held on just long enough to edge out favourite Fortress Of Fire in the Class 3 over 1200m. The result may have boiled down to 1kg with Gareth van Zyl’s charge hold on under 2.5kg claimer Damyan Pillay and Venniker with her 1.5kg allowance closing fast but just not quickly enough.

Apprentice Bongani Makhubo comes with a pedigree in racing second to none with his father a long-time employee of the Mike and Mathew de Kock yard and also an accomplished rider in workrider’s races.

At just his sixth ride as an apprentice, Bongani shed his maiden as he fittingly got Queen Braganza home in the last for the De Kock yard. He will need some tidying up as he had reins as long as fishing lines in the drive for the line, but Queen Braganza responded gamely to comfortably hold off Captain’s Pride and deny Venniker a second winner.

David Thiselton

Richard Fourie’s decision to jump off Note To Self and get on to Wish List upon the injury to the latter’s original jockey Andrew Fortune, proved to be spot on as she became the ninth filly in history to win the Gr 1 Lucky Fish Cape Derby at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday and the first filly for 27 years to do it.

However, Note To Self is also a horse to take out of the race as he impressed again with his acceleration from the back and his enormous stride and his second place finish gave owners Nancy Hossack and Jonathan Bloch, as well as trainer Justin Snaith, the exacta. Jonathan Snaith has a share in Note To Self.

Note To Self was also arguably a touch unlucky! Grant van Niekerk, who picked up the chance ride, said he would have just about won it if Fourie had not “cut him off” at around the 400m mark, although the overall evidence would point to the incident as unlikely to have affected the result.

Wish List’s antics at the start did not affect her performance and she is now a two-time Gr 1 winner after winning the Gr 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes over 1800m in her last start under Fortune.

The stipendiary steward report read, “WISH LIST (R Fourie) was stubborn loading and had to be hooded.”

It said later, “In view of the report from the Starter regarding WISH LIST (R Fourie), Trainer SJ Snaith will be advised to have this filly re-schooled prior to her next engagement in terms of Rule 61.6.10.”

Viva’s Liberte took the lead after jumping well from draw seven, although the stipendiary report indicated he had pulled hard early. Better Man came from the widest draw of the eight horse field to slot into second place.

Happy Verse was in third place on the rail as the field began to stretch out on the back of the strong pace. Star Major also pulled hard early and was eventually switched out to sit on the quarters of Happy Verse.

Wish List had the perfect position on the rail in fifth place behind the strong pace. Pay The Palace was sitting one wide with cover from Star Major.

Note To Self was inconvenienced slightly early on when the pulling Star Major was switched outward to get alongside Happy Verse, but thereafter he settled nicely behind Wish List.

Ignite The Fire was unruly from the off and  eventually ran around the field when JP van der Merwe could no longer hold him and he finished tailed off.

In the straight the talented Viva’s Liberte continued to stretch out towards the middle.

However, Wish List surged forward still under a strong hold and had joined him by the 300m mark.

At the 400m mark Wish List appeared to take up the running of Note To Self who was chasing under a drive from Van Niekerk, who also gave him a back hander to try and get into the gap.

However, the stipendiary report just said, “At the 300m NOTE TO SELF (G van Niekerk) was directed outward when unable to secure a clear run between the inside running rail and WISH LIST (R Fourie).”

However, they have not opened an inquiry into the incident.

Furthermore, Wish List was still under the hands then and was being eased at the line, so it is unlikely the incident would have altered the result.

Fourie drove Wish List with the hands from the 300m mark and did not draw the stick once.

She drifted off the rail and this saw Note To Self chasing with his long stride along the rail, but he was making no inroads until Wish List was eased before the line.

The official margin was 0,75 lengths.

Viva’s Liberte stayed on gamely to be beaten three lengths with Star Major a neck behind him and Happy Verse a further 0,40 lengths back.

Star Major off a 114 looks to be the obvious line horse as he ran exactly to the form of the Politician Stakes with Happy Verse, beating him by 0,40 lengths.

That means Note To Self could go up to 119 and be the highest rated three-year-old in the land, which is also a fair fit as he beat Happy Verse by 2,85 lengths whereas the 118-rated Jan van Goyen beat Happy Verse by 2,75 lengths in the Gr 1 Hollywood bets Cape Guineas.

The 115-rated Wish List was receiving 2,5kg from the males, so might just get a point or two due to the ease of the victory.

Wish List is by former Cape Derby winner Legislate out of the SA Oaks-winning Silvano mare Wind Chill and she was bred by Maine Chance Farms.

The Gr 2 Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes saw the versatile Vaughan Marshall-trained Questioning, a five-year-old Querari gelding, continuing his fine season and running out a 2,5 length winner under Fourie from O’Tenikwa, Outlaw King, I Am Giant and Asiye Phambili.

The Dean Kennemeyer-trained Princess Of Gaul (Vercingetorix) scored a third career Graded stakes win when landing the Gr 3 Splashout Prix du Cap over 1400m under Craig Zackey.

The Gr 3 Ridgemont Cape Of Good Hope Nursery over 1200m was won by the Piet and Elbert Steyn-trained Red Spice (Erik The Red) under Keagan de Melo, the Listed Kenilworth Cup over 2500m was won by the Paddy Kruyer-trained Tenpenny (What A Winter) under JP van der Merwe and the Listed Play ‘N Go Jet Master Stakes over 1600m was won by the Des Machlachlan-trained Jet Force (Master Of My Fate) under Grant van Niekerk.

Please Note: South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Kempton and Wolverhampton (UK) – 2 March 2026

David Thiselton

 

The Hollywoodbets Durban July conditions have been finalised and the final field panellists might be in for an interesting evening before the Final Field And Barrier Draw Ceremony, whilst the three-year-olds look to be on the back foot at present.

 

There will be a longer handicap this year with a 10kg spread in the weights from a topweight of 62kg down to a bottom weight of 52kg.

 

Furthermore, it will just be a straight handicap, unlike recent July conditions in which there was a maximum and minimum weight for certain age groups and genders.

 

If the final field happens to have a spread that is less than 10kg, the topweight will still be 62kg. If, for example, there is a weight spread of 7kg among the entries, then the bottom weight will be 55kg.

 

If the topweights are scratched after the setting of the weights, then the new topweight will be dragged up to 62kg. For example if the topweight after scratchings is 60,5kg, it will be dragged up to 62kg and after the rest of the field have been dragged up the bottom weight will become 53,5kg.

 

The final field will not necessarily be chosen by merit rating order.

 

Justin Vermaak, Executive Racing and Bloodstock of Race Coast, said, “There will be a final field selection panel like before and merit rating will be a leading aspect, but the panel will also take current form and distance suitability into account etc.”

 

In recent years the final field panellists have not had it too tough as the field was cut up before the final field announcement, with a lot of horses being scratched due to the recognition by the connections they do not have much chance, either due to the weights not favouring them or due to them being off form – the final declaration fee could have, in those cases, been considered a waste of money.

 

However, with the longer handicap, there are going to be more horses who still have form chances on paper.

 

Looking at last year’s July for example, third-placed Selukwe was rated 111 and had to carry 54kg due to the condition that the minimum weight for an older male was 54kg. He was thus 2kg under sufferance with the 127-rated topweights, both older horses, and he was 4kg under sufferance with the officially best weighted horse, the 129 rated (nett 125-rated) Eight On Eighteen, who was set to carry 57kg despite being the highest merit rated horse in the race due to a condition that three-year-old males could not carry more than 57kg.

 

In last year’s race Oriental Charm carried 60kg, Eight On Eighteen carried 57kg and Selukwe carried 54kg.

 

Under this year’s conditions the weights for those three horses would have been: Oriental Charm 62kg, Eight On Eighteen 61kg and Selukwe 54kg. Selukwe would have been 2kg and 4kg better off with Oriental Charm and Eight On Eighteen respectively under today’s conditions.

 

He would have been 2kg better off with the winner The Real Prince too and, on paper, would have been beaten 0,30 lengths instead of by 2,65 lengths.

 

There could theoretically have been a horse who would have been even more favoured by today’s conditions than the 111-rated Selukwe example.

 

Using last year’s race under today’s conditions, an older horse who had been rated 107 would sneak into the handicap under today’s conditions.

 

A 107-rated older horse last year would have had to carry 54kg, 6kg less than the topweight, but under today’s conditions it would have only had to carry 52kg, which would be 10kg less than the 62kg topweight.

 

Therefore, there are theoretically going be a lot more horses standing their ground at the time of the final field selection process this year, because a lot more of them will have chances of winning on paper than would have been the case under the old conditions.

 

Furthermore, with stakes of R10 million up for grabs there will be less cases of horses being scratched due to the  connections deeming them to be off form. They might still want to take their chances.

 

The difficulty for the panel will come in deciding whether a lower rated horse is deemed to have better recent form or better distance suitability than a higher rated horse.

 

For argument sakes let’s assume that we go back to last year and there are still many horses standing their ground until the bitter end. After the top 17 are selected, according to the last log and current form, let’s assume the next two horses are the 115-rated Madison Valley and the 120-rated The Real Prince.

 

The Real Prince is rated five points higher than Madison Valley, but he has never run a race beyond 1600m before.

 

Madison Valley on the other hand finished a close fourth in the Betway Summer Cup over 2000m and in his final run before the July he won the traditional July pointer, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins Cup Trial over 1800m.

 

Which one are they going to put in the all important 18th slot?

 

Such a scenario is going to have much more chance of happening this year.

 

Although it has been said that weight avoidance tactics are going to be used this year, those who do take that route are probably going to run a bigger risk of not qualifying than ever before.

 

Now on to the three-year-olds.

 

Eight On Eighteen was held in high regard last year and came into the race 2kg well-in, according to official merit ratings, and yet he was not able to win the race.

 

Under today’s conditions he would have had to carry 61kg, effectively 2kg more.

 

So it was tough last year for a top, top three-year-old who was favoured by the old conditions.

 

How tough will it be for good-but-not-great three-year-olds under the new conditions, considering there is no maximum weight for them and no minimum weight for older horses?

 

Likewise it will be tough for females.

 

Furthermore, this year’s three-year-old crop are arguably overrated off their current merit ratings.

 

For example, Gauteng Guineas runner up Grand Empire could not win the Wolf Power 1600 against older horses when 2kg under sufferance off a 102 merit rating (effectively a 106 merit rating), yet he is now rated 120. There will be cries of “but the handicapper is clueless” when looking at that, but those who do say that are clueless themselves, because the handicapper rates a race on that race, not on past races, and Tin Pan Alley had earned his 117 rating by beating older horses and Grand Empire had then beaten him. Furthermore, Grand Empire was likely not at his peak for the Wolf Power with the Triple crown series looming.

 

Nevertheless, the overall impression is the current three-year-old male crop is not shining and it is questionable whether any of them have properly earned a rating of 120 or above.

 

It could well be an older horse July, but on the other hand there is an impressive unexposed horse like Note To Self among the three-year-olds and more such types might emerge.

 

The build up to this year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July is going to be more intriguing than ever!

 

David Thiselton

The 2026 Hollywoodbets Durban July will be a milestone one with the prize money doubled to R10 million and with a longer handicap introduced as the topweight will be upped to 62kg and bottom weight lowered to 52kg.

It will fittingly fall on the 30th anniversary of the centenary July, which turned out to be one of the greatest of all Julys as it was won by the legendary Alec Laird-trained London News, who went on to put South African racing on the map by winning the QE II Cup in Hong Kong.

The renowned South African wildlife painter Henk Vos released his celebrated work, the Painting Of The Century, depicting a century of July winners, after the July’s centenary running.

The iconic painting now hangs in the Classic Room at Hollywoodbets Greyville.

Alec Laird actually ordered one of the prints of the painting before it was completed as the print had the first of his great Uncle Syd Garrett’s five July winners on the left and the greatest of his father’s record seven July winners, Sea Cottage, was in the centre.

The right hand side just had a blank with a silhouette of a horse, because Vos did not know yet which horse he was going to paint there.

Alec, who trained out of Randjesfontein on the Highveld, related, “He hadn’t made up his mind what horse he was going to put in the last panel (the 20th panel) and he even said to me ‘I would like you to win the July because I would like to put you as the last painting.’ With about a year to go I said to him I’m not going to make it.’”

However, fate then had it that London News not only became the 14/10 favourite for the 100th running of the July, but he was also saddle cloth number 20, being the only three-year-old in the field and the bottom weight.

Piere Strydom recalled, “I remember at the traditional Friday night cocktail Henk Vos was there with his big painting and there was one spot left for the 100th winner and I can still remember saying to someone that I think my picture’s going to be up there.”

London News duly won the race and Alec, London News and Piere Strydom are now at the forefront of the famous painting’s 20th panel and the horse is fittingly carrying the no. 20 saddle cloth.

The London News story starts at the National Yearling Sale of 1994.

Alec recalled big owners Laurie and Jean Jaffee’s chief aim at that Sale was to buy a yearling by their own 1987 July winner, Bush Telegraph.

Alec recalled Harmony Forever being his number one choice at that Sale.

However, he remembered London News being “a nice horse.”

He added, “On the first day a Bush Telegraph colt called Mr Newspaperman went for about R300,000. London News looked more athletic and Jean Jaffee actually said to me, ‘What about this one?’ On the first day they didn’t get a horse, the second day they didn’t get one and the more they asked me about London News the nicer he got, because I was otherwise going to go home without a horse!”

The Jaffees managed to secure London News.

Alec recalled, “He was a light youngster and even as a three-year-old was quite light. He didn’t show immediately, but we always had the feeling that he would be a nice horse when he matured.”

In fact, London News made a particularly inauspicious debut, beaten no fewer than 16,5 lengths under Anton Marcus in a 1200m Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1200m at the Vaal on June 6, 1995.

However, he got better and better and when he smashed the Greyville 2000m course record, which still stands today, in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000, he had won six out of eleven starts including the Dingaans and two middle distance Gr 1s.

Piere Strydom was aboard for the Daily News 2000 too.

He reflected on the 1996 July, the first of his four victories in South Africa’s greatest race, “London News was a lekker horse to ride because he had gate speed, a lot of natural speed and he would travel right up there in front and he had a good kick. But at the top of the straight (having led) I thought with a light weight let me just let the reins go a bit and get a length or two for the short straight. But he accelerated way quicker than I had expected and that’s when he made up three or four lengths on the field. Obviously it was going to tell at the end and he was stopping quite badly at the end. I heard the horses coming and I was just hoping for the line and he held on.”

Alec added, “Mike Rattray had invited me to watch in his box because it was on the line and he won by a neck but my eyes wouldn’t believe it because there was so much pressure. I wanted to see the number up!”

Alec described the emotion of being on the honour roll together with his late record-breaking seven-time July-winning father Syd.

In fact his extended family is comfortably the most prolific July-winning family in history with his grandfather Alec winning one as a jockey, his great Uncle Syd Garrett winning two as a jockey and three as a trainer, his father Syd winning a record seven as a trainer, and the cousins Dennis Drier, Alec Laird and Charles Laird each winning one July apiece – a total of 16 for the July dynasty.